The London duo go from post-dubstep to hyperpop in 21 minutes on this hot and humid all-originals mixtape.
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In the two months since it finally came out, Two Shell's "home" has already ascended to the pantheon of post-dubstep greats, its chipmunk vocal and melancholy melody joining the likes of classics from Jacques Greene and Fantastic Mr. Fox. But it still sounded distinctly now, with its breakneck speed and sugary hyperpop glaze. Those touches made "home" more fun, or at least less self-serious, than its brooding predecessors. The duo follow-up "home" with ꫀꪻꫀ᥅ꪀꪖꪶᦓꫀꫀᦔ, a 21-minute mixtape—available here until the end of the month—of originals that shows off everything polyrhythmic techno to a flip of Hannah Montana's "Hoedown Throwdown."
ꫀꪻꫀ᥅ꪀꪖꪶᦓꫀꫀᦔ touches on all kinds of UK dance music, but the only track in the mixtape that could be mistaken for their earlier Livity Sound releases comes in around seven minutes. Two Shell unleash a bassline so fierce that it tears through the drums as if they were made of papier-mâché. The rest of the mixtape builds upon the SOPHIE-inspired neon sheen we heard on "home." The album's second track, for example, is a duet between a bright arpeggio and a sugary vocal that sounds more Hannah Diamond than Hemlock. The guitar strums that snake over the 2-step drums on the opener hits closer to "BTSTU'' than "CMYK."
On the mixtape's back half, the duo leave their roots behind to try trance and progressive house on for size. With a notable vocal contribution from Siri (the track that starts around the 13-minutes is built around her asking, "Mum is calling. Would you like to answer?"), buoyant xylophones and dubby chords turn the mood summery. But it's a distinctly British summer, with the broken, syncopated drums like clouds covering up the sun.
ꫀꪻꫀ᥅ꪀꪖꪶᦓꫀꫀᦔ is a tour through the some of the shiniest bits and bobs of UK dance music from the past decade-and-change. What made the original post-dubstep records in the early 2010s so compelling was their bold, swooning emotion, often borrowed wholesale from R&B tracks. And though the London duo go exceptionally big with their choices here, each track still feels intimate and sincere. They channel both the sonic and emotional palettes of post-dubstep, though Two Shell's sometimes silly, sometimes vulnerable brand of dance music is also very 2022. ꫀꪻꫀ᥅ꪀꪖꪶᦓꫀꫀᦔ underlines why Two Shell are quickly giving Bicep and Overmono a run for their money as the UK's most beloved purveyors of wide-eyed dance music.